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IMPROVEMENTS TO 



WILLARD PARK 



BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN 




THROUGH THE WOODS TOWARD THE LAKE 



BY 
HOWARD EVARTS WEED 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT 

CHICAGO 



A REPORT 



ON 
IMPROVEMENTS TO 

WILLARD PARK 

BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN 



BY 

HOWARD EVARTS WEED 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT 

CHICAGO 



101 



Ci ^ {23 



.13 ^W3 






A Report on Improvements to Willard Park. 



To the Common Council of the City of Battle Creek: 

GENTLEMEN:— 

In accordance with a resolution of your honorable body 
and instructions received from Chairman Crandall of your Park Com- 
mittee, I submit the following report on some needed improvements 
to Willard Park. , .\ . 

HISTORY AND CHARACTER. 

The present Willard Park consists of a 16 acre tract, two and 
one-half miles from the City, bordering on the south shore of Gou- 
gac Lake. This land was donated to the City of Battle Creek by the 
late Chas. L. Willard in 1897. While doubtless the original inten- 
tion of the donor to include "Breezy Point" in the donation, this 
prominent and valuable part was reserved for private purposes so it 
does not constitute a part of the Park. 

For the most part, the land is thickly covered with native forest 
trees, mostly oak and hickory. No attempt at beautification has been 
made other than the clearing away of underbrush. The land is roll- 
ing in character rising about ten feet above the lake level by an 
abrupt bluff. Gougac Lake is not a large body of water, but its 
irregular shape adds much to its seeming extent, giving distant vistas 
which are a delight to the eye. 




THE PRESENT BEAUTIFUL (?) ENTRANCE. 



SHOULD BE MORE ACCESSIBLE. 

A park is a benefit to a community depending upon its access- 
ibility for the majority of the working people. Parks are primarily 
established for and mostly used by the working classes, which in 
Battle Creek means the wage earners in the manufacturing plants of 
the City. At present Willard Park is a disappointment in this 
respect. The Willard Park two mile street car ride is delightful, 
but the ride ends at an amusement resort owned and operated by 
private parties and only to be enjoyed by the people by paying the 
nickels, dimes and quarters freely. A stranger taking the car ride 
would never know of Willard Park unless told of its location and how 
to get there. The little six by twelve inch sign nailed to a telegraph 
pole "This way to Willard Park" is not much of an inducement for 
one to take the half mile walk up the muddy or dusty road. I ven- 
ture the broad statement that not one-half of the thirty thousand in- 
habitants of Battle Creek have ever set foot in Willard Park. I also 
doubt if one-fourth of the wage workers of the City even know of its 
location. 

Obviously, then, the first step in having this park enjoyed by 
the people is to make it more accessible. The street car line should 
at least go up to the park entrance and unless the new interurban line 
running from Battle Creek to Coldwater is to solve this problem, I 
suggest that the matter be taken up by the proper committee of the 
Council without delay. If the street Railway Company will run their 
cars entirely around Gougac Lake, it would afford a most delightful 
ride which, in Summer time at least, would be a paying investment. 



GREATER AREA NEEDED. 

Sixteen acres is a small tract for an outlying park. Battle 
Creek is a growing City. It passed through its panic four years ago 
in finding out that there is a limit to the profitable manufacture of 
breakfast foods. But the City is now enjoying a substantial growth 
based upon its varied manufacturing industries and the future outlook 
for a great and prosperous City could not be more promising. 

Anyone who has given the subject thought must seethe neces- 
sity of a greater park area for Battle Creek. RIGHT NOW is the 
time to make provision for the future in this regard. The present 
entire park area of the City is but twenty-eight acres including the 
sixteen acres in Willard Park. This means one acre of park land for 
over a thousand people. It is thus a good thing that some of the 
people do not take advantage of the parks at all, for otherwise the sign 
"standing room only" would have to replace that of "keep off the 
grass." 

A comparison of other cities of about equal population to 
Battle Creek is of interest in this connection. This data is based upon 
the government report of 1903, furnished by Park Statistician G. A. 
Parker. Brought down to date the Cities would make even a better 
showing. 




THE DRIVE THROUGH THE WOODS. 



CITY 


POPULATION 


PARK AREA 


PARK EXPENDITURE 


Haverhill, Mass. 




38,987 


259 


$ 8,682 


Quincy, 111. 




37,680 


131 


8,121 


Salem, Mass. 




37,504 


110 


13.240 


Elmira, N. Y. 




38,106 


100 


7,334 


Newton, Mass. 




36,350 


160 


6,149 


Springfield, 111. 




36,211 


207 


10,107 


BATTLE CREEK 


30,000 


28 


2,500 


Pueblo, Colo. 




29,237 


255 


15,672 


Council Bluffs, la 




29,171 


647 


5,717 


Meridan, Conn. 




25,088 


. 1029 




Colorado Springs, 


Colo. 


24,092 


1458 





Fortunately Willard Park can be enlarged at no great expense. 
A part of the adjoining land on the south is practically unfit for agri- 
cultural purposes and the rest is only ordinary farm land and is surely 
more valuable for park purposes than it ever can be for agricultural 
purposes. I cannot urge the acquirement of more land too strongly 
and I believe that this land should be acquired before any money is 
spent upon a pavilion or other improvements. The new pavilion, 
boat houses, and the like, are all needed if Willard Park is to be en- 
joyed by the people as it should be. But once these are in place and 
the people learn what a delightful place the park is, they will come to 
the park in such numbers as to make more land an absolute necessity. 




ABOUNDING IN WATER LILIES. 



In order to explain as to just what lands should be acquired I 
refer you to the two maps accompanying this report. In map number 
one, the present area of Willard Park is shown by the shaded portion. 
The other portion of the map shows "Breezy Point," 2.1 acres, and 
a part of the Willard farm containing approximately 50 acres. I 
would recommend that this fifty acres be purchased and added to the 
present park area. The western portion of this part of the farm con- 
taining 26 acres is of no practical value for farm purposes and should 
be acquired at a minimum of expense. The eastern tract of 24 acres 
contains a cleared space where a ball ground and tennis courts would 
be appropriate. The present marsh on the back or western portion 
of the tract should be made a part of Gougac Lake by the digging of 
a canal across as shown in map number two. The water level in this 
marsh, as ascertained by the City Engineer, is two feet lower than 
the water level of the lake. So that a canal to connect the marsh 
with the dake would raise the water level of the marsh and allow 
boating facilities therein, so that what is now simply a marsh would 
become a small, yet delightful lake. I suggest the name of "Willard 
Lake" for this portion of the tract. 

The present driveway through the woods should be widened 
to thirty-two feet in width, some of the sharper curves eliminated, 
and made to go around the new Willard Lake, then branching into 
two drives as shown in map two. The present entrance should be 
made more to the south and another entrance still further to the south 
as shown on the accompanying map two. 




A GOOD SHORE LINE. 




A POOR SHORE LINE. 



Breezy Point should of course be a part of the park, but as 
the present owners would doubtless hold it at a high valuation, it is 
probable that the money necessary for its purchase could be spent to 
better advantage otherwise. 

PAVILION AND BOAT HOUSE. 

I believe the new Pavilion should be located as shown on map 
two. This commands a fine view of the lake and is easily accessible 
from the driveway. The removal of a few trees will make a couple 
of fine vistas of the lake. 

Near the old pier should be located a boat house and a new 
pier should be built at this point. The boats should be let at small 
expense so that the excellent boating facilities offered by the lake can 
be taken advantage of by the working people. Here also should be 
bath houses, so that bathing in the lake may become general. No 
one feature of more importance than public bathing could be intro- 
duced which would make Willard Park more popular. The present 
city water supply at Gougac Lake has the Amusement Park on one 
side and Willard Park on the other. In the one case the public are 
invited to bathe — for a price — and in the other bathing is prohibited. 
The situation would be laughable, were it not so serious. Surely 
bathing in the lake from Willard Park would not contaminate the water 
more than bathing in the same lake from the Amusement Park. The 
solution of the whole matter consists in the proposed re-location of 
the water works in another part of the city. Then bathing would be 
.a leading feature of the park. 



THE PLANTING OF SHRUBS. 

Willard Park should be largely left in its natural beauty. No 
artificial features other than the necessary buildings and open spaces 
should be attempted. The border lines, however, should be thickly 
planted to the floweririg shrubs, using mostly native varieties. 

The present entrance is far from beautiful and needs a thick 
planting of shrubs to hide the unsightly yard of the ice house and 
back yards of the summer cottages so abundant at this point. I have 
as yet made no attempt to make a "planting plan" of this park. 
There are so many other features needed that I cannot recommend 
the planting of shrubs until the recommendations as already mentioned 
are carried out. 

CONCLUSION. 

I feel sure that there is nothing in this report but that is very 
practical. There are many other things to which I should like to call 
attention, but if the publication of this report results in awakening the 
people of Battle Creek to a realization of the park needs of the City 
and more especially of the need of more land for the imiprovementof 
Willard Park, I shall be satisfied. 

Respectfully submitted. 



Howard Evarts Weed. 



1715 Railway Exchange, 
Chicago, 111. 
March 1st, 1907. 




THE PRESENT MARSH. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




016 097 900 8 g 



